When the Drum is Beating is a film depicting Haiti’s rich musical culture and its legendary and beloved band, Orchestre Septentrional.
Through its sweeping historical narrative and infectious music, the
film captures the nuances and complexities that make Haiti one of the
most fascinating countries in the hemisphere. In his exploration of the
“Haitian people’s band,” Dow delivers a humane and profound
understanding of the pride, resistance, despair and rich artistic
tradition of Haiti itself.

I was delighted to attend the World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival of this superb feature documentary that interweaves the extraordinary story of Orchestre Septentrional’s
six decades of creativity with the history of Haiti and how it went
from being the first free black republic with a huge wealth of natural
resources to a shattered country that cannot support its citizens.

Filmmakers and the band Orchestre Septentrional at the World Premiere
of When The Drum Is Beating at Tribeca. Photo: Tracy Ketcher.

The film moves smoothly back and forth in time between the past and
present, and gives broad context to the current problems facing the
country: from the extreme brutality of French colonialism and the bloody
revolution that brought Haitians their freedom to the crushing foreign
debt and the 15-year American occupation that helped usher in the brutal
dictatorship of François “Papa Doc” Duvalier. How many of us realize Papa Doc was there in large part because of us?

The film brilliantly depicts the extreme brutality of French
colonialism and the bloody revolution that brought Haitians their
freedom to the crushing foreign debt and the 15-year American
occupation. Credit: Burning of the Plaine du Cap, Haiti, 1794
(engraving) by The French School (18th century). Bibliotheque des Arts
Decoratifs, Paris, France/ Archives Charmet/ The Bridgeman Art Library.

In the film we see the hope that was created by the rise of Jean Bertrand Aristide, and the despair that followed the coup
that drove him from power. To this day, I am still not totally sure
what transpired with him – although it seems as if, again, it was the
U.S. that controlled the shots. Most importantly, the film shows how
all these events contributed to creating the conditions that made the
horrific death toll of the earthquake inevitable: shoddy
infrastructures, like bad governments, eventually collapse.

The inspirational story of Septentrional and its continued
existence in a place where little survives – not governments, monuments,
art works, cities, lives nor even the very landscape – is uniquely
Haitian. My love of Haiti is tied very much to its ability to keep
going. In America, 9-11 really threw us for a loop. Compared to other
events around the world – Haiti, Pakistan, Japan – it seems smaller.
Certainly the Haitian people have overcome so much more than two
collapsed buildings.

Through the film’s sweeping narrative, infectious music, tension-filled encounters and the musicians’ passionate dreams, When The Drum Is Beating goes to the core of what makes Haiti one of the most fascinating countries in the hemisphere. Through my work in Haiti,
I plan to dedicate the next 20 years of my life there. This film helps
explain my passion. The film allows us to see, feel and hear the
passion, commitment and joy of Septentrional’s musicians, and through
them, the uniquely infectious Haitian spirit.

Director Whitney Dow and Phillip Seymour Hoffman at the Premiere
of When The Drum Is Beating at Tribeca. Photo: Tracy Ketcher.

I spoke to director Whitney Dow at great length after the film, congratulating him on this masterpiece. He explained to me:

My film is depicts Haiti’s rich musical culture and its legendary and beloved band, Orchestre Septentrional.

Through historical narrative and infectious music, we have tried to
capture the nuances and complexities that make Haiti one of the most
fascinating countries in the hemisphere.

In our exploration of the “Haitian people’s band,” we have tried to
deliver a humane, profound understanding of the pride, resistance,
despair – and rich artistic tradition of Haiti itself.

One of the things I love most about Haiti is the music. Whitney Dow
was inspired to make a movie on Haiti through music. In Haiti, Septentrional
is one band that has seen it all. For six decades this 20-piece band
has been making beautiful music, a fusion of Cuban big band and Haitian
Vodou beats, turning out thousands of fans each time it plays.

At 62, Septentrional has already survived twelve years longer than
the expected Haitian lifespan. Led by 80-year-old leader, “Maestro”
Ulrick Pierre-Louis – whose son I was delighted to meet at the Tribeca
Film Festival – its trumpeters, drummers, sax players and guitarists
have made music through dictatorships, natural disasters, coup d’états, and chaos, navigating the ups and downs, the glory and the tragedy that is Haiti’s history.

Director Whitney Dow and Producer Jane Regan at the World Premiere of
When The Drum Is Beating at the Tribeca Film Festival. Photo: Tracy Ketcher.

In the words of the production company:

The orchestra embodies a particular Haitian trait – the
ability to find beauty in places of darkness – which has helped Haitians
survive in a place where nothing seems permanent except poverty and
want. As they now face what is perhaps the country’s greatest tragedy
ever, the earthquake that killed almost 300,000 in January 2010, they
must find the strength to go on.

Filmmakers and the band Orchestre Septentrional Orchestre Septentrional at the
World Premiere of When The Drum Is Beating at Tribeca. Photo: Tracy Ketcher.

Sitting through the World Premiere of When the Drum is Beating
at the Tribeca Film Festival this week, I thought to myself, At last:
the definitive movie on the real Haiti. The red carpet was far from the
abject poverty that is much of Haiti, but the quiet dignity and
strength of its people was reflected in the faces of – in fact, shone
from – the many Haitians attending.

When the Drum is Beating
2011 | 84 min | Feature Documentary
In English, Creole with English subtitlesCo-production with Independent Television Service (ITVS) in
association with the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) with
funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and
produced in association with TV Ontario, with additional funding
provided by the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. It is
slated for a PBS broadcast in 2012, and was an official selection of the
2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Facebook | Vimeo | Donate